Reconnecting with the amazing you

Hello again. Welcome to my hypnotherapy page. This is the part where you can feel good from the inside! It may be that changing your colour or style is a bit of a bridge too far for you at the moment. Hypnotherapy could give you the confidence or self-esteem that you need before embarking on a colour or style consultation.

Do you struggle to achieve any of your goals, and constantly put yourself down for it? Do you think you’ll never be enough, thin enough, clever enough, attractive enough, popular enough or successful enough? It could be that you think that these thoughts about yourself will never change. You may have become unemployed or perhaps your children have recently left home or your relationship has ended. It may be that you have suffered one or more bereavements, undergone significant life changes that have left you feeling lost and lacking in confidence and self-esteem. Many of us feel unattractive and invisible as we become older or come to a crossroads not knowing which way to turn. Confidence can also be affected by simple and seemingly negative events during our day to day living. Through hypnotherapy you can learn how to switch off the destructive voices of low-self esteem and lack of confidence. You can start to live the life you want and connect with the confident and amazing you again.

Lack of confidence very often begins as a result of negative childhood or teenage experiences. It can also stem from significant or difficult events in our adult life. If these negative experiences are not confronted they can affect our mental and emotional wellbeing and prevent us from achieving our full potential. Hypnotherapy can help to get to the root of the problem. It can then communicate with your unconscious mind to restore healthier and more positive and empowering thought processes. Hypnotherapy challenges negative thought processes and limiting beliefs and can eliminate self-doubt allowing you to renew your determination, generate a more positive future and create a more positive self-image.

Some facts about Hypnotherapy

What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. It involves a partnership between therapist and client to achieve the changes you want. We work together to relax your mind, so you can understand how your thoughts and feelings determine the way you experience your life.

And when you are relaxed in this way, and accept suggestions about other ways you can feel and think to achieve the results you want.

You are always in control of the session, and can leave the trance at any time, if you need to. You allow yourself to go into the trance, to the level you are comfortable with and wake at any time. You are normally aware of everything that is said and done in the session, and you can recall as much as you would from an ordinary conversation. You cannot be made to say, do or reveal anything against your will.

How is this achieved?

In broad terms, this is achieved by the therapist helping you to enter a hypnotic state and there are many different ways of doing this. Usually, you are asked to relax in a comfortable reclining chair or couch and the therapist talks to you in a slow and soothing voice. You will feel very relaxed but still aware of your surroundings. Once you are in this state, your hypnotherapist will communicate with your unconscious, using questions and suggestive statements to challenge your limiting beliefs.

The conscious mind then becomes calmer and less active, allowing the therapist to communicate effectively with subconscious part of your mind. The subconscious mind is a deeper-seated, more instinctive force than the conscious mind and this is the part which has to change for your behaviour and physical state to change. The subconscious mind, which tends to accept suggestion much more readily than the conscious mind, will then incorporate the positive suggestions from the therapist to your belief system, allowing you to make the desired behavioural changes. The seeds of change then become firmly planted.

In essence, the conscious mind is a bit like a vigilant customs officer. It limits entry of forbidden thoughts and potentially revolutionary ideas. Unsurprisingly, behaviours and attitudes, even unhelpful ones, tend to be protected and conserved. Now, if we could only distract our customs officer for just a few minutes, we can sneak beneficial suggestions through the “green channel” into the subconscious. This is how hypnotherapy effectively recruits the subconscious to provide direction and initiate change.

The First Session

The first session or initial consultation usually lasts thirty minutes with subsequent sessions lasting one hour or two hours for smoking cessation. To begin with, your hypnotherapist will talk to you about what you hope to achieve with hypnotherapy. They will likely ask questions about your past to try and establish any root causes or triggers for the way you feel. The therapist will then explain how hypnosis works, explaining the process for you so you know what to expect.

This stage also helps clients to relax, become familiar with the therapist’s voice and build up an initial rapport. The first session will usually focus on relaxation which enables the client to feel comfortable and safe and to become familiar with the pattern of hypnosis. The Hypnotherapist will then discuss with you the number of sessions required. Some problems may be dealt with in one session only (such as smoking cessation) while others may require a few more treatments. If you have any questions that have not been covered by your hypnotherapist, be sure to ask.

How will I feel?

It feels great! It is a pleasant, relaxing and enjoyable experience All hypnotic states are characterised by a tremendously pleasant “altered level of awareness” which most people experience as pleasantly relaxing, similar to day-dreaming. Although hypnosis may be light, medium or deep, a medium trance is usually used where the brain produces alpha waves. In alpha states, the body gradually relaxes and is similar to meditation, day dreaming, being absorbed in a book or music or television, driving and arriving at your destination without recalling all the usual landmarks. Some enjoy it so much that they want to stay for longer in that relaxed state. You remain aware and in control at all times and leave relaxed but alert at the same time.

What Hypnotherapy is not

Hypnotherapy however is not mind control and the subconscious mind will not accept any suggestions which conflict with your moral code or anything that you would not ordinarily accept in your normal waking state. Hypnotherapy is not about being made to do things. In fact it is the opposite. It is about empowerment and regaining the control that has been lost. This is often the cause of your symptom or problem. You will be fully conscious of your surroundings and aware of the Hypnotherapist’s voice guiding you. Your subconscious mind will always protect you and has purely your best interests at heart; it only accepts suggestions that are beneficial. Nobody can ever be hypnotised against their will and even when hypnotised, people still remain in complete control of any suggestions given. The technique does not involve you being put into a deep sleep, you remain fully aware of your surroundings and situation and are not vulnerable to every given command of the therapist.

To return to full consciousness, which you can do all by yourself at any time, the therapist may count up from 1 to 10. Clients usually come out of hypnosis feeling very calm and relaxed, as if they have awoken from a deep refreshing sleep.

It’s a two way street

If you are contemplating hypnotherapy then you will need motivation and resolve. I can supply the insight and guidance – but you will need to bring a large suitcase of motivation, persistence and determination. This is what I call the “therapeutic contract”. You need to establish realistic goals and then we can work as a team to win them back – and even exceed them! The important thing is that you want to change some behavioural habit or addiction and that you are highly motivated to do so.

In the course of the therapy clients are usually taught self-hypnosis as part of a number of therapeutic homework tasks, to reinforce the progress made in the session sessions with the therapist. This can help counter distress and anxiety-related conditions.

Some Ethics

What you say to your hypnotherapist will be held in strictest confidence. However, you should understand that your hypnotherapist is ethically and legally obligated to disclose information given in confidence if there is reason to believe that you may harm yourself or harm someone else or that you are involved in or have knowledge of child abuse/neglect or abuse/neglect of an elderly or disabled person.

Despite the personal nature of the work that you and your hypnotherapist do together, it is important for you to understand that you and your hypnotherapist have a professional and not a personal relationship. In order for your hypnotherapist to maintain his or her professional objectivity, the interactions between you and he/she will be limited to scheduled sessions. You will be best served if your relationship with your hypnotherapist remains strictly professional and concentrates exclusively on your concerns. If you meet your hypnotherapist in public or in a social situation, be aware of his/her ethical responsibilities and expect a short conversation.

From March 2011 due to new legislation, we are not allowed to make claims for treatments that has not been scientifically proven. Most complementary therapies cannot be proven despite having been found to be very effective. Once people have given permission and are committed to change, they respond readily, with many saying they look forward to their next session as it is the most relaxed they have ever felt.

I hope that this brief description provides a better understanding of hypnotherapy for you and I will be only too happy to answer any further queries of concerns that you may have.